Carrageenan Free Classic Milk Bread
Soft, pillowy, and impossibly tender, this Japanese-style milk bread is the kind of loaf that makes you want to bake every weekend. The secret is the tangzhong — a simple cooked paste of bread flour and whole milk that gets folded into the dough and keeps every slice moist and cloud-like for days. Many store-bought breads and dairy products quietly contain additives derived from seaweed, which can be tricky to avoid without scrutinizing every label. Baking from scratch with straightforward ingredients like whole milk, butter, eggs, and bread flour means you stay in complete control of what goes into your loaf. The enriched dough, finished with a glossy egg wash, bakes up with a deep golden crust that gives way to a feathery, pull-apart crumb inside. It's equally at home sliced thick for toast, torn apart at the table, or used as the base for the most luxurious sandwich you've ever made.
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Learn more →Ingredients
10 servings
For the tangzhong
- 3 tbsp bread flour
- ½ cup whole milk
For the dough
- 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast (1 packet)
- ¼ cup warm whole milk (about 110°f / 43°c)
- 2 ½ cups bread flour
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 1 large egg
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces
For the egg wash
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tbsp whole milk
Instructions
- 1
Make the tangzhong: whisk together the 3 tbsp bread flour and 1/2 cup milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens into a smooth, pudding-like paste and leaves a trail when you drag a spatula across the bottom, about 3–4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
- 2
Combine the yeast and 1/4 cup warm milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and let stand until foamy, about 5–10 minutes.
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